1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of artificial aquatic plants and sea life, and more particularly, to reproductions of aquarium life formed from translucent memory retaining polymers, and methods for reproducing the same.
2. Background Information
Aquatic environments, such as aquariums, fish tanks, vivariums, or other aquatic displays, often contain any of an assortment of plants, shrubbery, and sea life as part of their landscape. These landscape displays can serve many uses, from beautifying the aquatic scenery to providing a stimulus for fish and other sea or amphibious creatures that inhabit the aquatic environment.
Live plants, such as sea weed, are often used in aquariums for a number of reasons. They are soft and provide a good stimulus for fish or other inhabitants, as fish will often play and interact with the plants. Also, live plants tend to gently sway and wave with the water as the water circulates within the aquarium. This motion by the live plants makes the overall appearance of the aquarium more pleasing, as well as providing a better stimulus for fish.
Similarly, live sea life is often used to beautify the landscape of an aquarium. Popular forms of sea life used in aquariums include sea anemones, corals, scallops, clams, sea cucumbers, and sea apples. These forms of sea life are particularly engaging because of their vibrant and luminous colors.
Unfortunately, there are a number of drawbacks associated with the use of live plants and live sea life in aquariums. Regarding live plants specifically, the environmental conditions necessary to allow live plants to thrive also tend to promote the growth of algae in the aquarium. This algae must either be treated chemically, physically cleaned, or hopefully eaten by the fish or other sea creatures living in the aquarium. Otherwise the water can become polluted and any glass walls in the aquarium tend to then become dirty. The growth of algae often requires the owner or care taker of the aquarium to change the water more frequently than may otherwise be necessary. Another drawback to live plants is that they require a lot of care. The proper lighting conditions, water hardness, and water temperature are all required to enable most live plants to thrive in an aquatic environment.
Some of the drawbacks to using live sea life are similar to those of live plants. Like live plants, live sea life must also have the proper lighting conditions, water hardness, and water temperature to thrive. Other drawbacks include the tendency of the live sea life to move about the landscape and reposition themselves in locations that are not ideal for viewing. For instance, sea anemones tend to move to the front of an aquarium and plant themselves against the smooth surface of the front pane of glass.
The common drawbacks of live aquarium life, namely their need for particular environmental conditions, can also present further problems. Since fish inhabiting an aquarium also require certain environmental conditions, problems can arise when the environmental conditions required by the live plants and sea life conflict with the environmental conditions required by the fish. Aquarium life must be found that can coexist in the same environment as required by the fish, and finding such plants and sea life can be a costly trial and error exercise. And in the case of live plants, once the proper plants are found, another problem that often arises is that the fish or other sea creatures will often feed on them. Thus, there are many drawbacks associated with the use of live plants and sea life in such aquatic environments.
Artificial plants are another option for use in aquariums. These plants are typically made from rigid plastics and do not suffer from the drawbacks of live plants, such as the accompanying algae growth, requiring certain lighting conditions, water hardness levels, and water temperature levels, and potentially being eaten by sea creatures inhabiting the aquarium. Unfortunately, known artificial plants are not as visually appealing as live plants due to their color, texture, and rigidity. Artificial plants tend to look artificial. Furthermore, known artificial plants do not add nearly the same level of beauty that the color and luminescence of sea life can provide to an aquarium. Accordingly, improved forms of artificial aquarium plants and life are desirable.
The drawbacks and limitations of known live and artificial plants and sea life have been substantially improved upon by the present invention.
According to an embodiment of the invention, an article for use in an aquatic environment comprises a translucent polymer material that is configured to substantially resemble a form of aquarium life. In another embodiment of the invention, a translucent polymer material comprises a highly pliable polymer material capable of substantially retaining its shape. In further embodiments of the invention, a form of aquarium life that a translucent polymer material is configured to substantially resemble can be that of a sea anemone, a sea plant, a sea weed, live coral, a scallop, a clam, a sea cucumber, a sea apple, or a jellyfish.
These and other aspects of the invention will be more apparent in view of the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings thereof.